"Dead Things"
Based on the Episode Written by Steven S. DeKnight
The following story is copyright © 2025 by Mark Moore.
In the Summers' house, at night, Buffy entered from outside and closed and locked the front door. She tossed her keys on the table. "I'm home! Who wants to help scrape the mud off my clothes?!" She put down her jacket on the banister.
Tara walked in from the kitchen. "Hey. Ya hungry?"
"Kinda. What'd you make?"
Tara wrinkled her nose. "Um...it's like...KFC in a pot."
Buffy made a face, confused. "Huh?"
"It's ground chicken and flour mixed with herbs and spices, then fried in vegetable oil and water, and then chicken gravy mix, brown gravy mix, onion gravy mix, and mashed potatoes were added on top once it started boiling."
"Sounds like a Dawn creation."
Tara smiled, chuckling. "Right on the money. Want some?"
Buffy shrugged. "Sure, why the hell not?"
"Rough patrol?"
"Kinda."
"Well, after you get cleaned up, what do you say we curl up on the couch with some beers and get all unwindy?" Tara suggested. "Tall glasses of frosty relaxation. Nectar of the working woman."
Buffy smiled. "Mmm, sounds nice."
They heard the sound of a car horn honking outside.
Dawn ran downstairs.
"Where are you going?" Buffy asked her.
"I'm...sleeping over at Janice's?"
"And I'm falling for that again because of the surprise lobotomy?" Buffy asked.
Tara looked at her. "It's okay, I checked it out. Janice's mom is picking her up."
"Oh."
Dawn smiled. "Her mom's cooking Mexican. She's gonna teach me how to make real tortillas."
Buffy smiled. "Sounds cool. Then you can teach us."
The horn honked again. Dawn unlocked and opened the door and left, closing the door behind her.
Katrina and Amy walked downstairs.
Buffy looked at them and smiled. "Wow, look at you, dressed all snazzy."
Amy smiled. "We're going out to Olive Garden."
"What's the occasion?" Buffy asked.
Katrina shook her head. "No occasion. Jeep free?"
Buffy nodded. "All yours."
Amy looked at Katrina. "Can I drive? I could use the practice."
Katrina smiled. "Sure."
Amy grabbed her keys off the table and unlocked and opened the door. She walked outside.
"Oh, I'll be right out. Gonna spritz on some perfume!" Katrina called. She closed the door, then walked over to Buffy and Tara. "There actually is a special occasion. I'm gonna ask Amy to be my domestic partner."
Buffy grinned. "Omigod."
Tara grinned. "That's awesome! Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Katrina unzipped her purse, took out a small bottle of perfume, and spritzed it on.
Then she opened the door and walked outside.
Buffy and Tara looked at each other.
Tara smiled. "We have the house to ourselves."
Buffy smiled. "I know."
"Nude cuddling and beer drinking?" Tara suggested.
Buffy grinned and started taking off her clothes. "Frosty nectar. Now, please."
Cordelia and Faith walked away from East Hills Teen Center and toward Faith's Ford Escort.
"So any plans for tonight?" Cordelia asked.
"Thought I'd do a sweep around the neighborhood. Why? You need me at the club?" Faith asked.
"Nah. Crowd's small enough for me and Harmony to handle it."
Faith unlocked and opened her door. She got into her car and unlocked the passenger-side door. Cordelia opened it and got in the car. They closed and locked their doors.
Faith put the key in the ignition and started the engine. "Pain" by Kittie started playing on her homemade mix CD. Cordelia was suddenly overcome by an intense migraine and clutched her head in pain with both hands.
Faith looked at her. "You okay? I can turn off the music, if you want."
"No. Well, yeah, please do; your music's shit." Cordelia gritted her teeth.
Faith turned off the radio.
"But it's not that. It's a migraine."
"Maybe take something for that."
Cordelia rubbed her temples. "Yeah...maybe."
In SoHo, Manhattan, in Ramón's penthouse apartment, Kennedy and Ramón were sparring in a training room while Emma sat in a chair and watched.
Kennedy managed to block a punch to the face from Ramón with one hand and then counter-punched him in the chest with her other hand. He staggered back a bit. Kennedy did a roundhouse kick, connecting with his head. He fell to the mat. Emma applauded. Kennedy crouched and pretended to stake him in the heart with an imaginary stake.
"Good, good."
Kennedy stood up. Ramón did as well.
"All right, I think that'll do it for tonight. See you tomorrow night."
Emma stood up. She and Kennedy left the training room.
Kennedy looked at her girlfriend apologetically. "I'm sorry."
Emma looked at her. "For what?"
"For the long training session. I know it must've been super boring for you."
"I don't mind it."
"Really?"
Emma stopped walking. So did Kennedy.
Emma smiled. "Yeah. I like watching you fight. It's quite a turn-on."
Kennedy smiled. "Thanks."
Emma curled her arms around Kennedy's neck. "And I know, if you're called, you'll be one kick-ass Slayer."
"Thanks again."
Emma kissed Kennedy on the lips for a while. "Now...the big question is...do you fuck as hard as you fight?"
Kennedy grinned. "Let's go to your place, and I'll show you."
Katrina and Amy were sitting opposite each other in a booth at Olive Garden, drinking Moscato wine while browsing their menus. The place was full of people, sitting in booths, talking and drinking.
"I'll be right back. I gotta piss." Amy stood up.
Katrina smiled. "Awww, sweetie, save it for the shower."
Amy smiled. "Can't. Sorry. I promise I'll drink a lot to make up for it."
"You better." Katrina took a sip of her wine.
Amy walked away. Katrina continued drinking, lost in thought and trying to work up the courage to propose.
"So how did you get so beautiful?"
Katrina laughed sarcastically. "Okay, does that line usually work-" She turned and saw Warren, sitting beside her, wearing a suit and tie, and stopped smiling. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"It's nice to see you again, too, Katrina."
"Yeah, it's the seeing-you part that's throwing me here, Warren, because I thought I was pretty clear with the never-wanting-that-to-happen-again."
"Never's a long time, baby." Warren held up a folded bill between his fingers, gesturing to the waiter.
"Apparently not long enough."
"Oh, you're not still sore about that thing, are you?"
The waiter tried to refill Katrina's glass from the bottle of wine, but she put her hand over the glass to stop him.
"What thing would that be, exactly? What, the wind-up girl you tinkered together and then abandoned?"
"Okay, so I've made a few mistakes."
"No. No, I did. For ever lowering myself to be friends with an asshole like you." Katrina got up.
Warren stood, too, stopping her. "Don't say that."
"Well, what did you expect, to just...waltz in here and sweep me off my feet with your cheesy lines and fancy suit?"
"No, I ju-I just thought...we could talk. I thought maybe we could work things out."
"There's nothing to work out. What you did was sick. And just looking at you makes me want to vomit." Katrina gathered up her purse.
Warren reached into his jacket pocket. "You sure about that?" He put on a pair of red sunglasses.
"Yes, God, yes, I'm sure."
Warren reached into another pocket, pulled out a device, and opened his hand. The device flashed with red and yellow sparkly lights, then quickly subsided. Katrina looked at it in surprise.
Amy returned from the restroom a while later and was confused when she couldn't find Katrina.
The waiter arrived. "Are you ready to order?"
"Where's my date?" Amy asked him.
"If you're referring to the young lady that you came in with, I don't know, but I saw her talking with a young man a short while ago."
Amy stared at him in surprise. "What?"
Amy was driving the Jeep along a street with her window down, concentrating. She felt the air but couldn't sense Katrina.
"Aradia, Goddess of the lost, hear my words: the path is murky; the woods are dense; darkness pervades. I beseech thee, bring the light."
A small blue ball of light materialized in the Jeep.
"Lead me to Katrina."
The ball of light flew out of the Jeep. Amy followed it.
She soon arrived at a house. She parked the Jeep on the street.
"Yes, Warren." Katrina felt herself kneel down and a hand on the back of her head.
"Wait, what'd you just say?" a male asked.
"I said 'Yes, War-" Katrina paused in mid-word, confused.
Her vision came into focus. She was in a room. It was very red: red sheets on a bed, red lava lamp, and red wall coverings. She was looking up at Warren, who looked alarmed, and realized in horror that she was seconds away from giving him a blowjob.
Katrina looked at Warren's hand on her head, shoved it away, looked down at the black-and-white French maid outfit that she was wearing, and was outraged. "What the fuck?!"
Katrina got to her feet and pushed Warren into the other room. Jonathan and Andrew were sparring with plastic light-up Star Wars lightsabers. Warren fell to the floor. Katrina stalked up behind him, throwing the French maid hat at him. The others stopped and stared.
"What did you do to me?!" Katrina demanded, furious.
"Get the Dampener!" Warren ordered.
Jonathan and Andrew quickly dropped their toys and rushed around, looking.
"Who the hell are you?" Katrina demanded.
"Um, your masters?" Andrew replied.
"My what?!" Katrina yelled.
"Where'd you put it?!" Jonathan asked Andrew.
"You had it last!" Andrew replied.
Warren stood up.
Katrina confronted him. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Get the Dampener!" Warren yelled.
"You were gonna share me with these two dorks?!" Katrina asked, sickened.
Warren put on his red sunglasses.
"Hey! We're supervillains!" Andrew yelled.
Andrew and Jonathan rushed over. Andrew wore his sunglasses and held the Dampener.
"Call us 'Master'!" Andrew thrust his hand out with the Dampener on his palm.
Jonathan wasn't wearing his sunglasses; he put his hands quickly over his eyes. "Wait!"
The Dampener flashed briefly, weakly, and nothing. Katrina just stared at it.
Andrew sighed. "Aw, shit."
"It's out of juice!" Jonathan yelled.
Katrina looked at Warren. "Is that what you used on me?! Oh, my God! First the robot and now this?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She shoved Warren in the chest.
"I just - I wanted us to be together!" Warren yelled.
"There is no us, Warren! Get that through your big, meaty head! I am not your girlfriend!" Katrina yelled. "Dude, this is so fucked up!" She walked toward the other two. "You bunch of little boys, playing at being men. Well, this is not some fantasy; it's not a game, you freaks! It's rape!"
"What?" Jonathan asked, stunned.
Andrew shook his head. "No...we didn't-"
"You're all sick!" Katrina yelled, crying and still angry. She pointed at Warren. "And I'm going to make sure you get locked up for this. And then we'll see how you like getting raped." She turned to walk off.
"Stop her!" Warren yelled.
Andrew and Jonathan each grabbed an arm.
Katrina fought back. "Get off me!" She elbowed Andrew in the face, then kneed Jonathan in the face.
They both went down. Warren rushed over as Katrina started up the stairs. He grabbed her shoulder, but she pushed him off. He grabbed her again. She raked her fingernails down his face, drawing blood. Warren yelled in pain but knocked Katrina down. He grabbed a Champagne bottle and turned to hit her with it.
Suddenly, they all heard the doorbell ring, followed by pounding on the front door upstairs. Warren dropped the bottle, startled. It fell on the floor, smashing to pieces. Katrina grabbed the largest remaining piece by the neck with her left hand and jabbed Warren's left leg with it. Warren cried out in pain. Katrina kicked him away, and he fell to the floor.
Katrina crawled on top of him, straddling him. She scraped the entire length of his face with the broken Champagne bottle, tearing up his face and drawing a lot of blood.
Warren screamed and knocked the bottle out of Katrina's hand with a weak fist. He weakly started hitting her with his fists. "Die, bitch!"
Katrina screamed gutterally, put her hands around Warren's neck, and squeezed, choking him. Warren put up a struggle, but Katrina held firm, digging her fingers into his neck and strangling him. She didn't let go until he breathed his last.
Katrina stood up, staring down at Warren's unmoving body.
"Warren!" Andrew cried.
Katrina turned to look at him and Jonathan. They were staring and looked horrified.
"You killed him!" Jonathan cried.
Katrina stood in shock for a while as it sunk in.
Andrew ran at Katrina. She did a roundhouse kick, hitting him in the face. He fell to the floor. Then she did a front kick at Jonathan, hitting him in the chest. He fell as well.
Katrina turned and ran up the stairs. She was in the kitchen of some house. She didn't see a phone anywhere. She ran into the living room, opened the front door, and ran outside, colliding with Amy.
"Amy!" Katrina cried.
"Trina!" Amy hugged her. "What happened?!"
Katrina hugged Amy. "Warren kidnapped me. I think he created some kind of mind-control device. He called it a Dampener. It didn't work properly; it wore off. Amy, I killed him."
"What?" Amy asked in surprise.
"Yeah. He was about to hit me with a Champagne bottle, but then he was distracted when you rang the doorbell and pounded on the door. We fought, and then I...strangled him...to death." Katrina was still full of adrenaline. "Jonathan and Andrew were with him. I beat them up."
Amy tried to process this information. "Is there a phone in the house?"
"I didn't see one."
"Shit." Amy thought for a moment. "We're gonna go to the nearest convenience store, so I can use the payphone. I'm gonna call the cops as well as Buffy. Okay?"
Katrina nodded. "Yeah."
Buffy and Tara were snuggling together on the couch. The TV was on, but they weren't really paying attention to it.
The telephone rang.
Buffy groaned. "I don't wanna get it."
Tara smiled. "Let the machine get it. You can always pick it up, if it's important."
The answering machine played its outgoing message:
"Hi, this is Buffy."
"And Dawn."
"And Tara."
"And Amy."
"And Katrina."
"Leave a message!" they all exclaimed.
The answering machine beeped.
"Buffy, it's Amy. Pick up."
Buffy stood up and headed for the telephone.
"Please, it's an emergency."
Buffy picked up the handset and answered the call. "I'm here."
"Buffy, I need you to come to the 7-Eleven. Katrina was kidnapped from the restaurant."
"What?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"It's okay, I found her, but...um..."
"Amy, back up. What happened?" Buffy asked her.
"Warren kidnapped her and took her to his house. Well, not his house, a rental. He used some kind of mind-control thingy. They were gonna..." Amy paused, fighting back tears. "They were gonna make her their sex slave."
Buffy sighed. "Jesus Christ."
"Trina somehow broke free of the mind control, and she fought Warren off, and...she killed him."
Buffy stood in shocked silence.
"Buffy?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, I'm here. I'll, uh, I'll be right there."
"Okay. Hurry. I called the cops; you'll need to explain some stuff about Warren and back Trina up."
Buffy frowned. "Amy, tell Trina to not talk to the police. At all. I'm gonna get her a lawyer. You understand?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Buffy ended the call and set the handset down. She looked at Tara. "Tara-"
"I heard it. Machine picked up everything." Tara picked up Buffy's clothes off the floor for her.
Buffy opened a container near the phone and flipped through the cards. She pulled out Lilah Morgan's business card.
Buffy picked up the handset and called Lilah's personal cell phone number. The phone rang.
"Please pick up."
"Lilah Morgan, Wolfram & Hart."
"Lilah, it's Buffy Summers. You represented me back in 1997."
"Oh, yes. What can I do for you?"
"I need to hire you."
"What did you do this time?"
"Not for me, for a friend. She just killed someone."
"Uh...I've got a full case load."
"Please. She's a good person. And the guy, he...wasn't. He tried to rape her."
There was silence for a while.
"Lilah?" Buffy asked.
"Sunnydale, right?"
"Yeah. How soon can you get here?"
"About three hours."
"I'm not sure where we'll be. Either the police station or my house."
"Okay."
"Please hurry."
Buffy got out of her van, which she had parked next to the Jeep. Amy and Katrina were sitting in the Jeep. Katrina was absent-mindedly sipping from a bottle of regular Pepsi. Amy opened her door, got out of the Jeep, and closed the door. She walked over to Buffy.
"How is she?" Buffy asked.
Amy sighed. "As well as can be expected, I guess. She's shocked, angry."
Buffy nodded. "It's still very new for her. She's feeling all of these raw emotions."
Amy frowned. "That fucker was an asshole. Trina did the world a favor."
"I don't disagree, but maybe don't say that aloud around the authorities?" Buffy suggested.
Amy nodded.
"The police?"
"I called the non-emergency number and spent a lot of time explaining the situation. I told them that it would be preferable if Detective Stein investigates this case, considering the extraordinary nature of it. He wasn't on duty, but they said they were gonna contact him at home, so he should be here soon."
"Okay." Buffy briefly looked over at Katrina, then at Amy again. "I called the lawyer that handled my case. She's agreed to represent Katrina, but it'll be a few hours before she gets up here."
Amy nodded, then she noticed a car pull into the parking lot. "I think Stein's here."
Buffy looked. Detective Stein pulled his car into a parking space and shut off the headlights and the engine. He opened the door, got out, closed the door, and walked over to them.
Stein nodded. "Ms. Summers."
Buffy nodded in reply.
"Are you Katrina?" Stein asked Amy.
"No, I'm Amy Madison." Amy nodded at the Jeep. "Katrina's sitting in the Jeep."
"Katrina, would you come out here, please?" Stein called.
Katrina closed her Pepsi bottle, set it in a cup holder, unlocked the door, opened it, got out of the Jeep, closed the door, and walked over to them.
"Would you mind telling me what happened?" Stein asked her.
Katrina was nervous and felt uncertain.
"Actually, I've called a lawyer. Until she arrives, maybe we should focus on the crime scene?" Buffy suggested.
Katrina was shocked. Amy shot Buffy an angry look.
"So there was a crime?" Stein asked Buffy.
"Shit!" Buffy cursed under her breath. "Not by her. But there was a crime committed. By Warren, uh, Warren..."
"Mears." Katrina briefly looked at Stein, then looked down at the pavement.
"Would you be able to take me to this place?" Stein asked.
Amy pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and offered it to Stein. "I jotted down the address before we left."
Stein took the paper from her. "Why didn't you give this to the dispatcher? Scene could have been in the process of being...processed."
Amy felt a bit nervous. "I was hoping we could all go over together...just in case."
"In case what?" Stein asked angrily.
"Uh, in case...Jonathan and Andrew try something."
"Ms. Madison, you were not about to accuse this department of improper conduct, were you?" Stein asked.
"No, sir."
Stein briefly held up the note. "I'm gonna call this in, then we'll head over there together." He headed back to his car.
Buffy turned to face Katrina and put her hands on Katrina's shoulders. "We're gonna get you through this, okay? I called Lilah Morgan. She represented me, and she's gonna represent you as well."
"How are you gonna pay for that?" Katrina asked.
"Let me worry about that."
"Thank you."
Buffy hugged Katrina. Katrina hugged Buffy.
There was a patrol car already at the house by the time that they arrived, but the officers hadn't gone inside yet. Stein led the way in, followed by Katrina, Buffy, and Amy, and the uniformed officers were behind them.
They walked through the dining room and into the kitchen.
Katrina pointed at the open basement door. "Down there."
Stein walked downstairs first, followed by Katrina, then Buffy, then Amy, then the uniformed officers.
Warren's body was still on the floor, right where Katrina had killed him. Jonathan and Andrew were also in the same places as earlier. One of the officers started taking pictures.
Katrina pointed at Warren's corpse. "That's him. Warren Mears. I killed him."
An officer went and checked for a pulse, then he nodded. The other officer went and checked on Jonathan and Andrew.
"Trina, where's that thing?" Buffy asked.
"Huh?" Katrina asked, dazed.
"The mind-control thingy."
Detective Stein gave Buffy a look.
Katrina looked around. She spotted the Dampener on the floor and pointed. "There."
Stein looked at the officer by Warren's body. "Bag it."
The other officer looked at Stein. "These two are cold."
"What?!" Katrina asked, staring in shock at their corpses. "N-No, I just fought them off. I-"
"Trina, shut up." Buffy looked from her to the officer.
The officer held up two bloody fingers of his latex glove. "Head trauma."
"Probably when they hit the floor." Stein sighed, then looked at Katrina. "You're gonna have to come down to the station until we get this sorted." He looked at the other officer and nodded.
The officer took out a pair of handcuffs and approached Katrina. "Please turn around and put your hands behind your back."
Katrina did as told. The officer fastened the handcuffs to Katrina's hands.
Amy looked at her. "Trina, sweetie." She looked at Stein. "Can I ride with her?"
"No, you may not, but you may follow."
Buffy looked at Katrina. "Katrina, listen to me. Do not say anything, no matter what they say, no matter what they promise you. You understand?"
Katrina nodded, upset.
At the police station, Katrina was allowed to use the restroom. She declined to make a phone call. She was put in the interrogation room under guard.
Buffy took Amy into the break room. Buffy got two cans of regular Pepsi from the refrigerator, and she and Amy sat at a table and drank while they waited.
"What do you think's gonna happen to her?" Amy asked.
"I don't know. I-I don't think they have a case against her, but it'll depend on how much that they believe."
Stein entered the room. "Buffy, Amy, the lawyer's here. She wants to meet with you."
Buffy and Amy stood up, finished their drinks, threw the cans in the trash can, and followed Stein back up front.
Lilah was sitting in a chair. She stood up when they approached.
Buffy gave Lilah a weak smile. "Thank you for coming."
Lilah nodded. "Before I speak to Katrina, I want you to tell me your parts of the story."
Buffy nodded. "Okay."
"And I want to interview the two of you after that. Follow me." Stein turned and walked away.
The others followed him. Stein opened the door to an empty office. Then he walked away.
Stein brought Katrina to the office. They waited outside.
The door opened, and Buffy walked out, followed by Amy. Amy hugged Katrina. Katrina hugged Amy.
Amy kissed Katrina on the lips. "It'll be okay, sweetie."
Katrina didn't say anything. They let go of each other.
Katrina walked into the office and closed the door behind her.
Lilah smiled. "Hi, Katrina, I'm Lilah Morgan. I'll be representing you."
"Hey."
"Have a seat."
Katrina sat in the chair in front of the desk. There was a tape recorder that was already recording on the desk.
"So tell me what happened."
"I had gone on a date to Olive Garden with my girlfriend, Amy. She'd gotten up to use the restroom. While she was gone, Warren Mears, an old friend from college, showed up and sat down next to me. He was dressed in a suit. He seemed to want to get together with me."
"Did you two date before?"
Katrina felt disgusted. "God, no."
"What was your friendship like?"
"It was mostly one-sided on his part. We talked about engineering. Last year, we had come back to Sunnydale for spring break. I learned he had created a sexbot and left her back at his dorm room, and she had tracked him to Sunnydale."
"A sexbot?" Lilah asked in disbelief. "This guy made a robot?"
"Yeah. I broke off all contact with Warren after that. I even moved back to Sunnydale, because I didn't want to be on the same campus as him."
"And you hadn't seen him since then?"
"Actually, I did - pretty recently, actually. He and his buddies had turned themselves invisible and wanted to kill Buffy. They'd been messing with her since last year."
"Invisible?" Lilah asked.
"Yeah."
"Do you have any proof of this?"
"I still have the gun, and the police confiscated everything from their previous base in the basement of Warren's mom's house."
Lilah took a moment to absorb all of this. "So what happened tonight?"
"I rejected him and wanted to get away from him. He pulled something out of his pocket. He later called it a Dampener."
"I've looked at the device. I've called in a technology expert from our firm to examine it. What happened next?"
"I felt disoriented. The next thing that I knew, I was kneeling before Warren in the basement of some house. We were in a room that was made up to look romantic. I was now dressed in...this." Katrina indicated the outfit that she wore. "Which means Warren probably undressed me and put me in it."
"And you have no memory of this?"
Katrina shook her head. "None."
"What happened next?"
"I knocked him out of the room and into the main room of the basement. Warren told his buddies to get the Dampener. Andrew said they were my 'masters' and 'supervillains'. He demanded I call them 'Master'. He tried to use the Dampener on me. It didn't work. Jonathan said it was 'out of juice'. Warren said he wanted us to be together. I yelled at them and told them that this was rape." Katrina was getting angry again at the memory. "I said I was gonna have them locked up. I turned to leave. Warren told the others to stop me. Andrew and Jonathan each grabbed a hold of one of my arms. I elbowed Andrew in the face and kneed Jonathan in the face. I started up the stairs. Warren grabbed me by the shoulder. I pushed him off. He grabbed me again. I scratched him hard with my fingernails. He knocked me down. He grabbed a Champagne bottle and turned to hit me with it. At that moment, Amy arrived at the house and rang the doorbell and started banging on the front door. This startled Warren. He dropped the Champagne bottle, and it broke. I grabbed a piece of it and jabbed it into Warren's leg. I kicked him away. He fell on the floor. I crawled on top of him and cut up his face with the bottle. He started hitting me, screaming 'Die, bitch!' That's when I strangled him."
"Had you ever killed anyone before that?" Lilah asked her.
Katrina shook her head. "No, never."
"What happened next?"
"Andrew ran at me. I kicked him in the face. He fell to the floor. I kicked Jonathan in the chest. He fell as well."
"Did Jonathan attack you?" Lilah asked her.
"No, b-but, as I said, he'd grabbed my arm earlier, because they wanted to mind-control me again. I kicked him to be sure he wouldn't try to stop me on my way out."
"So you didn't mean to kill them."
"Right."
"And then?"
"I ran upstairs. I wanted to call the police right away, but there was no phone, so I ran outside. Amy was there. She took me to the local 7-Eleven and bought me a soda, then she called the police and Buffy."
Lilah sat back in the chair in silence for a while. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'll sit in on your interrogation, and you'll give the same account to the police that you just did to me. I'm gonna request access to the stuff that the police confiscated previously. I'm also gonna wanna see that invisibility ray."
"Buffy and Amy know where it is."
"Okay."
"So what do you think?" Katrina asked.
"I think, if everything checks out, you probably won't have to worry about any kind of charges. But prepare for a long night."
Buffy, Amy, and Stein exited the interrogation room. Katrina and Lilah were waiting.
"You ready?" Stein asked.
Lilah nodded. "Let's do it."
Stein looked at Buffy and Amy. "You two are free to go. I'll call if I have any more questions."
Amy looked at Katrina. "I'll stick around and drive you home, sweetie."
Katrina shook her head. "Oh, you don't have to, sweetie. You should go home and get some rest."
"Are you sure?" Amy asked her.
Katrina nodded.
Buffy looked at Amy. "I'll stay with her, Amy."
"Thanks." Amy kissed Katrina on the lips. "I love you."
Katrina smiled briefly. "I love you, too."
Amy walked away. Katrina, Lilah, and Stein walked into the interrogation room, and Stein closed the door behind him. Buffy headed to the front to wait.
Katrina and Lilah sat on one side of the table in the interrogation room. Stein sat across from them.
Stein turned on a tape recorder, inserted a blank tape, cued it, and pressed Record. "Saturday, January 12, 2002, 10:25 PM. Detective Paul Stein, homicide." He looked at Katrina. "Please state your full name for the record."
"Katrina Silber."
"Did you say Silber or Silver?"
"Silber. S-I-L-B-E-R."
"And your date of birth?"
"December 10, 1980."
"Okay, start at the beginning. When did you meet Mr. Mears?"
"At Caltech...about...a year ago." Katrina thought for a moment. "Yeah, it was Buffy's birthday, and I had called her earlier in the day, so January 19, 2001. We were in an engineering seminar together. Uh, me and Warren, not me and Buffy. He came up and introduced himself to me, because he liked a presentation that I'd given on maglev. Uh, that's a train thing."
Stein checked a file. "It says here that he attended Sunnydale High. You grew up in Sunnydale, didn't you, Katrina?"
"Yeah. I-I guess we did attend school together, but I wasn't really aware of him. Saw him on tape once in the A/V room."
"So you've known...you knew him for a year."
"Just about, yeah."
"What was your relationship like?"
"We were kinda friends. Hung out and talked sometimes. But he was kinda creepy, y'know, in a guy way, and I had the impression that he wanted something more."
"And you didn't."
"Right."
"Why's that?"
Katrina felt angry at that question but tried to not let it show. "Because I was in a relationship. Still am."
"Were you still friends tonight?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"I came back up here for spring break with him last year. It turned out that he had built a sex robot and abandoned her in his dorm room, hoping her batteries would run out."
Stein stared at her. "I'm sorry, what?"
Lilah looked at him. "Warren Mears was a technological genius. Some of this stuff will sound far-fetched, but we have evidence to back it up."
"Like the sex robot?" Stein asked.
Katrina nodded. "I have it, actually."
Stein raised his eyebrows.
Katrina felt embarrassed to admit that. "And, uh, I have the invisibility ray that he created as well."
"Invisibility ray?" Stein asked.
Lilah gave him a no-nonsense look. "All of these things will be provided for analysis in due time. I trust you've had the things that you had previously confiscated from Warren's basement analyzed by now."
Stein looked at her. "We have." He looked at Katrina. "So tell me what happened tonight."
"I had gone on a date to Olive Garden with my girlfriend, Amy. She'd gotten up to use the restroom. While she was gone, Warren showed up and sat down next to me. He was dressed in a suit. He seemed to want to get together with me."
"How did you react?"
"I rejected him and wanted to get away from him. He pulled something out of his pocket. He later called it a Dampener."
"What happened next?"
"I felt disoriented. The next thing that I knew, I was kneeling before Warren in the basement of some house..."
Tara, wearing her clothes again, was sitting on the couch, watching TV but not really paying attention to it, when Amy unlocked and opened the front door.
Tara looked at her. "Hey."
"Hey." Amy closed and locked the door and tossed her keys onto the table. She walked over to the couch and sat to Tara's right.
"How'd it go?" Tara asked.
"We went to the house that the assholes took Trina to. It turned out that Katrina had killed not only Warren but Jonathan and Andrew as well."
Tara was shocked. "Oh, my God."
"Yeah. She - She didn't mean to do that. Head trauma from when they hit the floor, it seems. Then Trina was taken to the police station, and Buffy and I followed. Trina was put in the interrogation room. Lilah eventually arrived and questioned me and Buffy, then the police did while Lilah questioned Trina. The police are grilling her now. Buffy is staying at the station, but Trina suggested I go home and get some rest. But how can I?" Amy started crying.
Tara watched tears run down Amy's cheeks and gave her a hug. Amy hugged Tara back.
Tara looked Amy in the eyes. "She's gonna need you, Amy."
"I'm not sure what I can say to her. It seems to me that Buffy might be a better person to help her deal with this."
Tara shrugged. "Maybe, and we'll all be here for her, but you're closest to her."
"What, uh, what can I expect?" Amy asked her. "What do I need to do?"
"Be there for her." Tara paused. "Hug her when she cries. Soothe her when she wakes up screaming in the night. Tell her that you love her."
Amy sighed. "Some love. If she hadn't insisted on going out tonight with me, none of this would have happened. It's my fault that she's in this mess."
"No, it isn't; it's theirs. If you weren't with her, who knows? She might have gone out on her own to try to meet someone, and the same thing might have happened."
Amy realized something. "If I hadn't done that locator spell and showed up at the house and rang the doorbell when I did..." She shuddered at the thought.
"See? You saved her."
"She saved herself. I only provided a distraction."
"At a crucial moment. Which means you saved her."
Amy thought about that. "Still, I bet she wishes this night never happened."
"I can't read her thoughts, but..." Tara hesitated, unsure. "Do you know why she wanted to take you out tonight?"
Amy shook her head. "No. I didn't really think about it too hard."
"It's because she was intending to propose to you. She was going to ask you to be her domestic partner."
Amy was shocked. She couldn't say anything for a while. "Why?"
"Because she loves you. And she believes in this relationship."
"I'm...nobody."
"She doesn't think so."
"She's so smart, and I'm-"
"Smart...in your own way." Tara smiled. "You're a pretty badass witch."
Amy smiled weakly, then her eyes focused on a family portrait on the wall: Buffy and Tara on either side of Dawn and behind her, Katrina and Amy behind them.
Buffy saw Katrina and Lilah approach and stood up. Katrina was now dressed in her own clothes.
"How'd it go?" Buffy asked.
"She's free to go. The police are putting off a decision on whether to press charges or not until all of the evidence can be analyzed, but...I think the odds are in her favor." Lilah gave Buffy a small smile.
Relief washed over Buffy. "Thank you."
"I'll be staying in town for a few days. I'll call you once I'm settled in and tell you where I am in case you need to reach me."
Buffy smiled. "Nonsense. You're coming home with us."
Lilah shook her head. "Oh, I can't impose."
"You're not. My sister's sleeping over at a friend's house. You can have her room. It's never a good idea to sleep in public accommodations in a vampire town."
"This won't decrease your bill."
"Didn't expect it to."
Lilah smiled. "Thank you."
The three of them left the police station.
They walked toward their vehicles. Lilah went to her car. Buffy took out her keys and unlocked and opened the driver's door. She got in and unlocked the passenger door. Katrina opened the door. Buffy looked as Katrina climbed in and closed the door. Her mascara was running down her face, and Buffy realized she had been crying.
"Feeling any better?" Buffy asked her. She immediately regretted her phrasing.
Katrina looked at Buffy. "Yeah."
Buffy easily detected the obvious sarcasm in Katrina's voice. "I'm sorry."
"Why did he do it?" Katrina asked. "He could have just let me go. It didn't have be like this. How could he say he wanted to be with me and do that to me?"
"I don't know." Buffy paused. "I know what you're going through."
"Does it get any better?" Katrina asked her.
Buffy thought about that. "It'll stay with you forever. You'll think about it every day for the rest of your life. But...you'll eventually learn to live with it."
Katrina wordlessly fastened her seatbelt. Buffy did the same.
Buffy unlocked and opened the front door and walked into the house. Katrina and Lilah followed. Katrina stood where she was, so Buffy gently touched her to indicate she should move aside, then closed and locked the door.
"Tara? Amy?" Buffy called. She tossed her keys on the table. "We're home."
Tara walked out of the kitchen and through the dining room. She looked at Katrina. "Hi."
"Hi." Katrina's eyes darted around nervously.
No one said anything for a while.
Buffy gestured at Lilah. "Uh, this is Lilah Morgan, Trina's lawyer. She'll be staying with us for a while. Lilah, this is my wife, Tara."
Lilah nodded. "Hi."
Tara nodded. "Hi. Uh, I think Amy's upstairs."
"I'll get her." Buffy started walking upstairs. "C'mon, Lilah, I'll show you to your room."
Lilah followed her. "A teenage girl's bedroom. I shudder to think."
"Oh, it's not that bad." Buffy smiled. "I hope you like Britney Spears. She's basically Dawn's goddess, and the room's a shrine."
"You're joking."
"Nope. But it was good enough for Michelle Branch."
"No shit?" Lilah asked.
Tara looked at Katrina in sympathy. "Come here."
Katrina approached Tara, and Tara gave Katrina a deep, warm hug. Katrina hugged Tara.
"How are you feeling...i-if you don't mind talking about it?" Tara asked.
"I was so angry. But it's been a long night, and now I feel just...tired." Katrina paused. "But not tired. I feel...God, I don't know. Still angry. Still hateful. Still nervous. Still numb. I'm feeling all of these fucking things, and I don't feel like myself."
"But you are." Tara looked in Katrina's eyes. "In the end, we all are who we are, no matter how much we may appear to have changed."
Katrina looked in Tara's eyes and saw sincerity. "I don't know what to think about that."
Tara thought in silence for a moment. "Maybe...think of this as a new lease on life."
"A new lease on life?" Katrina asked.
Tara smiled. "Yeah. You fought for your life, and you saved your life - as well as the lives of whoever else that those assholes might have hurt, if they'd continued on their path."
Katrina thought about that and gave Tara a weak smile.
"Do you want something to eat?" Tara offered. "Y'know, since you...didn't get a chance to eat dinner."
"I...I guess."
Amy walked downstairs. "Hey."
Tara and Katrina let go of each other, and Tara passed Katrina over to Amy, who immediately hugged her. Katrina hugged Amy tightly.
"I'll set some plates. Come in whenever you're ready." Tara walked through the dining room and into the kitchen.
Katrina and Amy stood in the silent, warm embrace of each other for a while, then they let go of each other and walked into the kitchen.
What they found were the lights turned off, the kitchen dimly lit by candles on the island, glasses filled with wine, and plates containing sirloin, mashed potatoes, and gravy.
"What the fuck?" Amy asked.
Tara gave them a small smile. "Buffy and I discussed it over the phone earlier. She asked me to go out and buy you guys a nice dinner and prepare it in case you both came home."
Katrina and Amy were stunned.
"I'll make myself scarce. Good night, you two." Tara headed for the door.
Amy and Katrina looked at her. "Good night."
Once Tara had left, Amy and Katrina went and sat at the island.
Amy sniffed the food. "Food smells good."
"Yeah."
Amy picked up her spoon, scooped up some mashed potatoes and gravy, and took a bite. She set down the spoon, picked up her fork and knife, cut a piece off the sirloin, and stuck it in her mouth. "It's delicious."
"Good."
Amy stared at Katrina in sorrow as she chewed. "Try it, sweetie. You haven't eaten since lunch."
Katrina stared at her. "I was otherwise occupied."
"I-I'm sorry." Amy looked down and ate in silence.
Katrina picked up her fork and knife, cut a piece off the sirloin, and stuck it in her mouth. She chewed in silence and swallowed. She set down her fork and knife, picked up her glass, and took a sip of wine. She looked at Amy, lost in thought. "Amy..."
Amy looked at her.
"I know why Buffy and Tara set this up, and it's not just to make up for a missed dinner."
"Yeah, I know." Amy paused. "Don't be mad at her, but Tara told me of your plan."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. She - She did it to help me. I was in a bad place."
Katrina stared at Amy. Amy stared right back at Katrina. Neither of them said anything for a while.
Amy smiled. "Yes."
Katrina wasn't sure how to respond. "I, uh, I guess thanks. I mean..." She sighed in frustration. "Fuck, I'm doing this wrong."
"It's okay."
"Amy, I'm not in the clear yet. There's still a possibility that-"
"My answer is still yes." Amy paused. "I love you, Katrina, and I'm in this together with you."
Katrina stared at Amy in adoration, then gave her a smile.
Later that night, in Amy and Katrina's bedroom, the young women were sleeping in bed, naked. It had taken Katrina a while to fall asleep. She was tossing and turning while having a nightmare.
"What did you do...Katrina? What did you do...?" creepy voices asked her.
Katrina turned over restlessly, laying on her side, facing the edge of the bed.
"What did you do...Katrina? What did you do...?"
Katrina suddenly fell backwards in her nightmare, and then she felt the seering pain of hellfire and smelled her own burning flesh.
"You deserved it, bitch!" Warren yelled.
Katrina screamed as she woke up from this nightmare. Katrina's eyes popped open, and she found herself in her own bed. She sat up, panting and looking around.
Katrina's scream had woken Amy. Amy sat up and hugged her from behind. "It's okay. You're safe."
Katrina started crying and shaking uncontrollably. Amy felt uncomfortable but just continued to hold Katrina. She rested her chin on Katrina's left shoulder.
Katrina reached up with her left hand and clutched Amy's left arm. "I can't do this! I can't!"
"Yes, you can." Amy winced a bit in pain from Katrina's grip. "You weren't beaten, and I'm not gonna let you be broken." She gently kissed Katrina's face. "I'm not..."